LOS ANGELES – If you’re looking for a single word to describe why Dana White elected to give a light heavyweight title shot to Lyoto Machida rather than Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, the UFC president is happy to give it to you: desire.

While both Rua and Machida proved victorious at Saturday night’s UFC on FOX 4 event at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, White said only “The Dragon” made it clear what he wanted next.

“Leading up to this fight, ‘Shogun’ did turn down a fight,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “‘Shogun’ has not been terrorizing me for another shot at Jon Jones. Lyoto Machida has. Lyoto Machida wants it.”

Rua downed Brandon Vera in the fourth round of the evening’s back-and-forth main event. Meanwhile, Machida dominated Ryan Bader en route to a second round knockout in the night’s co-feature. Prior to the card, White had promised the man who emerged from those two fights with the most impressive victory would earn a title shot against the winner of September’s UFC 151 headliner between current champ Jones and top contender Dan Henderson.

While Machida’s knockout, alone, may have been enough to earn him the shot, White said it was a combination of factors that led him to the decision – including the fact that Rua turned down a proposed matchup with fast-rising prospect Glover Teixeira.

But more importantly than what Rua and his team may have done wrong, White said, was what Machida and his camp did right.

“His management has been all over me, terrorizing me to get him back to the title,” White said. “What I can tell you is he wants it bad. That’s very important to me – how bad a guy actually wants that fight – and Machida wants it bad.

“I’m sure Lyoto has laid in bed every night since that fight thinking of all the things he should have done and what he could do and what’s possible. Now he’s got it, so we’ll see. We’ll find out.”

White said Rua’s next move isn’t clear, and he wouldn’t guarantee that the former champ would be slotted again into a No. 1 contender contest. He said a role for Rua as a coach on the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” is a possibility, but White admitted he hasn’t even begun to make those plane.

But Machida’s next contest will be booked in a matter of weeks. Champ Jones is the favorite to win at September’s UFC 151 event, and a victory would result in a rematch of the pair’s December 2011 fight. But Henderson possesses incredible power and wrestling abilities and is certainly capable of pulling off an upset.

Machida will obviously be an interested observer during the contest, but he insists he has no preference as to whom he meets for a shot at regaining the title he once held.

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